Collected here are current Insatiable Critic columns and articles that have appeared in New York Magazine over the years going back to 1998, plus a few vintage favorites. (Eventually I hope to scan more.) Many of the restaurants I loved or skewered or had high hopes for are gone. Restaurants land with a splash and evolve or fade away, not necessarily because they can’t find a following. Sometimes it’s a feud between owners, bad chemistry in the kitchen, a chef on his own with no business sense, a divorce, or a landlord issue. These older reviews, roundups and Ask Gaels columns are here for nostalgia or visitors in search of history.

November 25, 2008 | Insatiable CriticBig City Almond With its clamorous warmth, its eclectic American menu and reasonable prices, Almond is a haven for these nervous times…

November 17, 2008 | Insatiable Critic10 Downing At LastSlow-pokey delays dulled expectations. That’s why food so carefully cooked and jumping with flavor in an early tasting is a wonderful surprise…

October 27, 2008 | Insatiable CriticI Did It My VaiYes, it’s dark in here but once we solve the menu hurdle, dinner by votives in the shadows seems almost romantic…

October 6, 2008 | Insatiable CriticCompass GyrationsIn yet another premature mid-life crisis, Compass has redesigned itself for the third time and emerged looking good with a new seafood focus…

September 30, 2008 | Insatiable CriticThe Most Important Restaurants in Forty YearsWhat are the dozen (or so) most important restaurants of the past forty years?. Before the reality of space requirements took over, this was what I wrote…

September 15, 2008 | Insatiable CriticSocarrat Paella BarThis could be the best paella I can remember. It is lushly rich in socarrat--the marvelously crusty rice I’m scraping from the pan…

August 18, 2008 | Insatiable CriticSheridan Square ReduxChef Franklin Becker inherited a dysfunctional work in progress when Gary Robins vanished…Becker has already tightened ship and put his own mark…

August 11, 2008 | Insatiable CriticNouvelle DelicatessenThe crowd skews young and pretty at this lively new comfort food initiative from the folks at Cafeteria. And what a surprise, this grub is good…

August 4, 2008 | Insatiable CriticTasting ConvivioMichael White wasn’t happy with less than raves…so he and partner Chris Cannon bolted the door for two weeks and invented Convivio: new look, pared-down prices, a $59 four-course prix fixe, and a wonderful rustic style for the Southern Italian…

July 14, 2008 | Insatiable CriticMatsugen Does NoodlesClearly, as landlord and partner, Jean-Georges Vongerichten is betting our town’s noodleheads will be moved by the esoteric noodling of Japan’s entrepreneurial Matushita brothers…

June 9, 2008 | Insatiable CriticHundred Acres/No MuleThere is no mule tethered out front. Beyond that, Marc Meyer and Vicki Freeman have gone all out to evoke their signature farm fresh image…

May 12, 2008 | Insatiable CriticWildwood BarbequeFaux smoke and applied grime above the raucous 50 foot bar, and a bold mix of rustic with industrial want to suggest that pit barbeque belongs to the big city…

May 5, 2008 | Insatiable CriticBenoit Inc.Ducasse’s unabashed need to be embraced by New York has a real chance for fulfillment at Benoit once he whips the kitchen up a bit. Those of us obsessed by our stomachs and nostalgic for tradition have to be grateful he’s salvaged touches…